Jackpot Winner Claims $134 Million Prize

RELEASE DATE: 3/9/2010

California Lottery officials are excited to announce that the big winner of the $134 million MEGA Millions jackpot from last Friday has stepped forward.

John Dalkos claimed his ticket in the Lottery’s Santa Ana District Office late yesterday afternoon. Dalkos, who preferred not to be interviewed, has not yet selected the annuity or cash option but has 60 days to decide. If selected, the cash option amount for this ticket is worth approximately $82.9 million.

Although originally announced at $133 million, the jackpot was pushed up to $134 million due to strong ticket sales. Dalkos’ ticket – with winning numbers 11, 34, 44, 31, 52 and Mega number 32 – was sold at Country Donuts, located at 3200 East Anaheim Street in Long Beach. The owner of Country Donuts will receive a bonus of one-half percent, or $670,000, for selling the jackpot winning ticket.

Counting Dalkos’ winning ticket, there have been 12 MEGA Millions jackpots won in California, including the historic $315 million jackpot won on November 15, 2005, which was the largest California jackpot ever. Friday’s winning ticket is the third-largest MEGA Millions win for California since California joined the game in June 2005.

MEGA Millions is a multistate game, played in California and 34 other states. The odds of winning the MEGA Millions jackpot are 176 million to 1. Players pick five numbers from 1 to 56 plus a Mega number from 1 to 46. Draw times are Tuesdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m. PST. Tickets are $1 and can be purchased from any of the more than 21,000 California Lottery retailers. Please visit the California Lottery’s MEGA Millions site for more information.

The California Lottery is celebrating 25 years of enhancing education and supporting local communities. More than 95 cents of every Lottery dollar is returned to the community in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retail commissions. The California Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on Lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since the Lottery’s inception in 1985, Lottery players have contributed more than $22 billion to California schools out of total sales of nearly $59 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.8 billion in compensation since 1985.